Return to work- fed edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I have to guess a reason, I'd go with 2022 midterm election and how WFH can be turned into politcal weapon by GOP. Obviously, I am hoping I am wrong here.

And then alternately the continuance of working from home could be used as an intervention to the climate crisis and decreasing the use of fossil fuels from the other side. It makes no sense to have people packing the roads.

[Anonymous]

Our back to work date at one day a week has been announced and coworkers with 10+ years experience are leaving for raises and 100% remote with private industry. If you live in the dc area, fed pay and benefits sometimes aren't competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I have to guess a reason, I'd go with 2022 midterm election and how WFH can be turned into politcal weapon by GOP. Obviously, I am hoping I am wrong here.

And then alternately the continuance of working from home could be used as an intervention to the climate crisis and decreasing the use of fossil fuels from the other side. It makes no sense to have people packing the roads.

good and fair point. i guess it's a matter of which message resonates more/better with voters where seats are up for grab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I have to guess a reason, I'd go with 2022 midterm election and how WFH can be turned into politcal weapon by GOP. Obviously, I am hoping I am wrong here.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/kevin-mccarthy-biden-admin-work-home-federal-employees-scam-ingraham-angle

Kevin M fired the first shot. I know it's FOX but still...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I have to guess a reason, I'd go with 2022 midterm election and how WFH can be turned into politcal weapon by GOP. Obviously, I am hoping I am wrong here.

And then alternately the continuance of working from home could be used as an intervention to the climate crisis and decreasing the use of fossil fuels from the other side. It makes no sense to have people packing the roads.

good and fair point. i guess it's a matter of which message resonates more/better with voters where seats are up for grab.

I think that many of you are giving way too much credit here (or way too little depending on how you look at this.)

These decisions are being made at the department/agency level, and the people most involved are career administrative/legal/HR folks. And in a lot of instances unions have already been engaged.
To the extent decisions are delayed, it is most likely because nobody wants to be the "first out of the gate." This is about efficient use of office space, fostering collaboration, training, data security, appropriate technology, locality pay, travel rules, liability laws, engagement surveys, etc.

[Anonymous]

This is so fascinating to me. I work in tech (non-govt), and I think remote is not only here to stay but has given employees MUCH more flexibility to leave a job if they don’t like it, find something that pays better, etc. I know every sector is different, but if you have skills that work well in a virtual setting chances are you can easily quit job A for job B. Federal workers tend to have great retirement benefits and would obviously need to weigh those against non-fed jobs, but given how long it takes to get through a federal hiring process, I would hope agencies would do what they can to retain valuable staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so fascinating to me. I work in tech (non-govt), and I think remote is not only here to stay but has given employees MUCH more flexibility to leave a job if they don’t like it, find something that pays better, etc. I know every sector is different, but if you have skills that work well in a virtual setting chances are you can easily quit job A for job B. Federal workers tend to have great retirement benefits and would obviously need to weigh those against non-fed jobs, but given how long it takes to get through a federal hiring process, I would hope agencies would do what they can to retain valuable staff.

I think the issue is that people are framing this as binary- either 5days in office or guaranteed always at home.

That isn't reality. I highly doubt (other than that subset that does facilities, national security, dealing with walk-in customers, etc) that most federal workers will be back in the office more than two or at most three days per week, many likely 1 or ad hoc.

And outside of tech, there are no sectors I am aware of that are wide scale going 100% completely remote "work from anywhere." That goal is unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

Training is key

[Anonymous]

5 day telework sounds great, but just wait until the increased monitoring (cameras, keyboard, etc.) come along. And no, unions won’t be able to stop it. Managers will manage. Scorpion and the frog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:January/February is so not happening guys.

Yes it is.

No it isn’t.

It absolutely will because people don't spend as much when they work from home. With that said it shouldn't happen at all. I firmly believe that all business that can be conducted remotely should be done so. I am already dreading the amount of traffic that will be on the roads when everyone goes back.

You think the Administration is willing to force people to back in the office during peak of omicron? I don't think so. Omi/Delta/flu will be everywhere by then. I guess we will know soon enough.

Agency not budging.

[Anonymous]

I'm so grateful to work for an agency that already allows telework up to 8 days per pay period (since 2010). leadership is considering converting 1/3 of its positions to 100 remote. Very few of us are complaining!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so grateful to work for an agency that already allows telework up to 8 days per pay period (since 2010). leadership is considering converting 1/3 of its positions to 100 remote. Very few of us are complaining!

How do they handle locality pay issue for 100% remote staff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so grateful to work for an agency that already allows telework up to 8 days per pay period (since 2010). leadership is considering converting 1/3 of its positions to 100 remote. Very few of us are complaining!

How do they handle locality pay issue for 100% remote staff?

that's what they are working through. The option on the table is for those that volunteer to convert to 100 percent remote AND want to live outside of our 10 field locations will get assigned to "rest of US" locality scale. Legal is doing a lot of work to see if we can do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so grateful to work for an agency that already allows telework up to 8 days per pay period (since 2010). leadership is considering converting 1/3 of its positions to 100 remote. Very few of us are complaining!

How do they handle locality pay issue for 100% remote staff?

that's what they are working through. The option on the table is for those that volunteer to convert to 100 percent remote AND want to live outside of our 10 field locations will get assigned to "rest of US" locality scale. Legal is doing a lot of work to see if we can do that.

GSA?

I thought they already resolved this- you move out of the DC locality area and you get whatever the "correct" locality is. Your home is your duty station.

I really like this solution and wish others would adopt it, recognizing that some positions may not actually be eligible for fulltime remote work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so grateful to work for an agency that already allows telework up to 8 days per pay period (since 2010). leadership is considering converting 1/3 of its positions to 100 remote. Very few of us are complaining!

How do they handle locality pay issue for 100% remote staff?

that's what they are working through. The option on the table is for those that volunteer to convert to 100 percent remote AND want to live outside of our 10 field locations will get assigned to "rest of US" locality scale. Legal is doing a lot of work to see if we can do that.

GSA?

I thought they already resolved this- you move out of the DC locality area and you get whatever the "correct" locality is. Your home is your duty station.

I really like this solution and wish others would adopt it, recognizing that some positions may not actually be eligible for fulltime remote work.

not quite. a legal question was raised about "what if there is another federal agency present in the location, but not our agency." Because of some folks just have to have their cake and eat it too!